A loveable, bumbling mathematician uses his mathematics skills to achieve the unthinkable: solo flight. Hilarious rhymes and lively, colourful illustrations combine to make Charlie Weatherburn and the Flying Machine a book that children aged 4-6 and adults alike will relish over and over again. Order in ebook or paperback format from http://charlieweatherburn.com

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PIRATE THIS BOOK!
As a self-published author, my distribution
network is … you!
Can you help me to promote this book? For example:
• Email this PDF to your friends & other parents
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• Mention the book to friends, teachers, or other
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Yes, you have my permission to copy it! I’m hoping
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print copy for their kids, or as gifts for friends.
Thanks! —Matt

3. CHARLIE WEATHERBURN
and the
FLYING MACHINE
Written and illustrated by Matthew Magain

4. Published
by
Matthew
Magain
Web:
charlieweatherburn.com
Email:
hello@charlieweatherburn.com
Facebook:
facebook.com/charlie.weatherburn
Twitter:
twitter.com/cweatherburn
First
edition,
June
2011
©
2011
by
Matthew
Magain
All
rights
reserved.
No
part
of
this
publication
may
be
reproduced,
stored
in
a
retrieval
system
or
transmitted
in
any
form
or
by
any
means,
electronic,
mechanical,
photocopying,
recording,
or
otherwise,
without
prior
written
permission
of
the
publisher.
Requests
for
permission
can
be
made
by
email
to
hello@charlieweatherburn.com.
National
Library
of
Australia
Cataloguing-in-Publication
entry:
Author:
Magain,
Matthew.
Title:
Charlie
Weatherburn
and
the
Flying
Machine
[electronic
resource]
Written
and
illustrated
by
Matthew
Magain.
Edition:
1st
ed.
ISBN:
9780987091116
(ebook)
Target
Audience:
For
pre-school
age.
Dewey
Number:
A823.4
The
illustrations
in
this
book
were
done
using
a
MacBook
Pro,
Adobe
Illustrator,
Adobe
Photoshop,
a
Wacom
Bamboo
tablet,
and
Photoshop
Brushes
from
brusheezy.com
The
text
was
set
in
Garamond
Premier
Pro
and
Futura
Condensed.
Author
photo
credit
Ruth
Ellison.

5. For
Sophia,
for
whom
I
began
this
book.
And
for
Indigo,
for
whom
I
finished
it.

6. Charlie Weatherburn was a mathematician.

7. A lover of numbers, he thrived on addition,
Subtraction, division and multiplication.
All day he would dream about big calculations.

8. One blustery morning while opening his gate,
Lost in his thoughts of twelve, nineteen and eight,
Charlie was swept up by a terrible gale;
His trusty umbrella formed quite a good sail.

9. Poor Charlie was terrified; the wind was so strong!
It lifted and twisted and carried him along.
He flapped his bag clumsily, like a bird with one wing
Then Charlie realised that he was in fact … flying!

10. He wiggled his arms and regained some control,

11. Narrowly missing the roof of town hall.

12. He soared past the bus stop, and then with a lurch,

13. Charlie landed, unharmed, in the grounds of the church.

14. “How exciting!” he thought—for rather than fear,
Charlie was filled with a crazy idea.
He hurried back home, alive with a scheme
To design and to build his own flying machine.

15. Charlie worked until midnight, and possibly later,
Plotting trajectories with his calculator.
With the laws of physics on his side, he’d try
To fly once again, and be king of the sky.

16. His wings were composed of umbrellas and plastic,
Attached to a harness with strengthened elastic.

17. He donned a bike helmet, to protect his head,
And dressed in a bodysuit, shiny and red.

18. The sky was bright blue for Charlie’s first flight,
Though the lack of a breeze gave him momentary fright.
He took a big run-up, then reached for the sky
To prove once and for all that he really could fly.

19. At first, Charlie felt like a million bucks.
He fluttered his arms and ascended past ducks.
“I did it! I’m flying again!” he declared,
As he glided through clouds—a big, awkward, red bird.

20. The townsfolk below were all stunned and amazed
As Charlie climbed higher, bold and unfazed.
The maiden voyage of his flying machine
Was like nothing that anyone had ever seen.

21. In his plans, Charlie factored a number of things:
Gravity, wind speed, the span of his wings.
But there was one crucial element that his formula missed:
His arms soon got tired—shoulders, biceps and fists.

22. Soon Charlie could no longer flap them at all,
He lost all his energy and started to fall.
He tried desperately, but the flying had stopped,
And into a rubbish bin …

23. … poor
Charlie
dropped.

24. The garbage container into which he fell
Left Charlie’s costume with a terrible smell.

25. The stench was so bad that he left his red suit
In the dumpster, and had to walk home in the nude!

26. His wings, broke and crumpled, now useless for flying,
Were handy to stop the commuters from spying.
The stinky, nude, maths genius tiptoed home in shame
And vowed never to fly again …

27. … except in a plane!

28. THE REAL CHARLIE WEATHERBURN
Professor Charles Weatherburn was born in Sydney in 1884, and died in Perth
in 1974. He taught mathematics in Australia, New Zealand and England, and
the Weatherburn lecture theatre at the University of Western Australia is named
in his honour.
While the bumbling aviator in this book bears some likeness to his namesake,
the real Charles Weatherburn in fact made no attempts to fly solo of which we
are aware. He did, however, make significant contributions to the fields of
vector analysis, differential geometry and calculus.
The author would like to thank the Weatherburn family for giving their
permission to use his name in this book.

29. HUNGRY FOR MORE CHARLIE?
GET THIS BOOK IN PRINT
Purchase a print copy of this book from charlieweatherburn.com.
While you’re there, you can read updates from the author,
download apps, colouring sheets, interactive games and more!
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DID YOU FIND REGINALD?
Reginald the talking duck is Charlie’s best friend (he likes
numbers even more than Charlie!) He appears on every page.
Did you spot him?